Alibaba, Freightos team up for new service on B2B ecommerce platform

Alibaba is partnering with Freightos, the online freight marketplace, to integrate freight procurement into its business-to-business e-commerce platform, the company announced. Alibaba Freight had been in a pilot phase for a couple of months and will now be available to buyers on certain trade routes.

Alibaba Freight will allow shippers to “compare, book, manage and track ocean and air freight in real-time online,” the company said in a press release. Alibaba announced the partnership as one of three new tools and services to help American small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) advance their efforts to digitize and pivot online as they “fight through the challenges of Covid-19,” it said in a statement.

Shippers using Alibaba's platform are often moving containers and pallets. The new service will allow them to compare prices for air and ocean freight within the e-commerce platform, the company said.

Founded in 2011, Freightos has been “keeping global trade moving” by releasing the world’s first daily freight index to help importers and manufacturers remotely maintain global imports/exports despite rapid supply chain shifts caused by the coronavirus pandemic.